Category Archives: Middle East and North Africa

Ex-supreme court judge says ‘arguable case’ Israel’s conduct in Gaza is genocidal

Posted on by

Lord Sumption says Israel’s actions ‘grossly disproportionate’ and in new book points to suppression of free speech over Palestinian cause

A former UK supreme court judge has described Israel’s assault on Gaza as “grossly disproportionate” and said there was “at least an arguable case” that it was genocidal.

Lord Sumption, who served on the UK’s highest court from 2012 to 2018, was one of the highest profile signatories of a letter last year warning that the UK government was breaching international law by arming Israel.

Continue reading...

Freed Israeli hostage did not know of wife and daughters’ deaths, British family confirms

Posted on by

An Israeli soldier broke the news to Eli Sharabi on Saturday, after almost 500 days in captivity

The freed Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi did not know his wife and two teenage daughters were killed in the 7 October attack until after his release, his British family have confirmed.

An Israeli soldier broke the news about what had happened to his wife, Lianne, who grew up near Bristol, and their two British-Israeli children Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13, after Sharabi and two other hostages were released by Hamas in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday.

Continue reading...

Britain’s system for controlling arms exports is broken, former diplomat claims

Posted on by

Ex-Foreign Office official says he saw conduct that ‘crossed the threshold into complicity with war crimes’

Britain’s system for controlling arms exports is broken, subject to political manipulation and has seen conduct that crossed the threshold into complicity with war crimes, a former UK diplomat has claimed.

Writing for the Guardian, Mark Smith, who resigned from the Foreign Office in August, said officials were instructed to manipulate findings on the misuse of UK arms by allies, and if they did not do so, their reports were edited by senior colleagues to give the impression that the UK was in compliance with the law.

Continue reading...

Middle East crisis live: Israeli military completes withdrawal from Netzarim Corridor

Posted on by

Forces withdraw from area that bisects the northern and southern halves of the Gaza Strip to the buffer zone, as part of ceasefire agreement with Hamas

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has rejected Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks about displacing Palestinians from their land, Reuters reports.

Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state”, before correcting himself.

Continue reading...

Gaunt Israelis and Palestinians freed under fifth ceasefire exchange

Posted on by

Weakened state of three freed Israelis shocks country, while several released Palestinians also need hospitalisation

Hamas freed three hostages from Gaza and Israel released 183 prisoners and detainees on Saturday, the fifth exchange under a fragile, three-week-old ceasefire deal.

The gaunt appearance of the three Israeli men shocked the country, sparking anger and dismay that could increase pressure on the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to extend the agreement to a second stage, bringing home the remaining Israeli captives.

Continue reading...

‘This time, we stay’: the Palestinian families vowing not to leave Gaza

Posted on by

Defiant Gazans reject Trump’s resettlement plan after enduring 15 months of conflict

Saaed Salem’s eyes filled with tears as he surveyed the remains of his north Gaza neighbourhood on a freezing February morning. He was resting in a chair that had somehow survived the war, surrounded by grandchildren and rubble, his hope for the future and the ruins of his past.

His family had lost one home in 1948, when they fled Hirbiya village, now the site of Zikim kibbutz inside Israel, to escape shelling and reports of atrocities by Israeli forces.

Continue reading...

‘We never gave up’: tears and elation as freed Thai hostages return home from Gaza

Posted on by

The group of five workers were greeted at Bangkok airport by overjoyed family members and officials after being held for over a year in Gaza

The families of five Thai farm workers held hostage in Gaza for over a year wept with joy and hugged their loved ones as they arrived in Bangkok on Sunday.

The group smiled as they walked into the arrivals hall at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport after being freed on 30 January as part of a ceasefire deal aimed at ending the Israel-Gaza war.

Continue reading...

Israel and Hamas complete fifth hostage-prisoner swap

Posted on by

Release of three Israeli hostages and 183 Palestinian prisoners comes as next phase of ceasefire set to begin

Israel and Hamas completed their fifth hostage-prisoner swap under a fragile Gaza ceasefire deal, with the frail, disoriented appearance of the three freed Israelis sparking dismay among their relatives.

Out of the 183 inmates released by Israel in return, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group said seven required hospitalisation, decrying “brutality” and mistreatment in jail.

Continue reading...

Thousands of Syrians in limbo as UK Home Office freezes asylum claims

Posted on by

Two months after the fall of Assad’s regime, Whitehall’s decision to pause asylum applications from Syrians has left more than 6,600 cases stuck on hold in the UK

More than 6,000 Syrians in Britain are stuck in limbo because of an ongoing freeze on their asylum claims, two months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The Home Office announced a “pause” on Syrian asylum seekers’ claims on 9 December, the day after rebels swept into Damascus, saying that it needed to “assess the current situation”.

Continue reading...

Gaza ceasefire live: Netanyahu denounces ‘shocking’ images of freed hostages; Palestinian prisoners and detainees to be released

Posted on by

Palestinian prisoners and detainees will be freed later after Or Levy, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami were handed to the Red Cross

A small crowd has gathered at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, which will only grow as the release of Ohad Ben Ami, Or Levy and Eli Sharabi draws closer, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper is reporting.

The people are holding signs with posters of the three hostages, and one is holding a homemade sign reading “I’m sorry that it took so long, welcome back”.

Continue reading...

Trump’s Gaza plan suggests his pro-settler advisers are in the ascendant

Posted on by

Idea of US occupying Gaza and pushing out the Palestinians delights Israel’s pro-settler movement and its US allies

When Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington this week, his first stop was to meet evangelical Christian leaders, who have cheered on Israel in the war in Gaza in an alliance with the country’s pro-settler rightwing government. For both constituencies, Israel’s right to annex the occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank is a matter of faith and, they hope, a matter of time.

Both constituencies cheered this week as Donald Trump announced his half-baked plan to “take over” Gaza, an idea he had only tinkered with before Tuesday evening, when it tumbled out to the obvious surprise of his closest aides.

Continue reading...

Israeli soldier sentenced to seven months for assaults on Gaza detainees

Posted on by

Rights groups say punishment is insufficient after first conviction for abuse in a system where dozens have died

An Israeli soldier has been found guilty of severe assaults of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, the first conviction for abuse in a system where dozens of people have died in custody and whistleblowers say torture and violence is rife.

Israel Hajabi, 25, repeatedly attacked bound and blindfolded detainees with his fists, a baton and his assault rifle, a military court found, describing his actions as “serious and severe”. On one day alone, 5 June last year, at the Sde Teiman detention centre he beat two men 15 times.

Continue reading...

Sudanese military reports sweeping gains in battle for capital

Posted on by

Army making rapid advances across the country and closing in on RSF-held Republican Palace in Khartoum

Sudan’s brutal civil war appears to be approaching a decisive phase as the country’s military reported sweeping gains in the symbolic battle for the capital.

As a ruinous conflict, often characterised by bloody stalemate, nears its two-year anniversary, the Sudanese armed forces (SAF) declared a string of rapid advances across the country against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Continue reading...

Rebuilding shattered Gaza may require a new Marshall plan

Posted on by

Palestinians face a mammoth task to rebuild homes and infrastructure – and Trump is unlikely to help

In the week that Donald Trump called for what has been described as an “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians from Gaza to rebuild it as a US “riviera” – an idea as unworkable as it is unhinged – the issues of how, if and when Gaza will be reconstructed have returned to the fore.

The reality is that, for all the promises to rehabilitate the coastal strip after previous conflicts, reconstruction – when it has happened – has at best been very partial and always subordinated to Israel’s demands.

Continue reading...

Netanyahu gives Trump ‘golden pager’ in apparent reference to Lebanon attack

Posted on by

Photos show gift, reportedly nod to Israel’s deadly attack on Hezbollah, during which devices simultaneously detonated

Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly gave Donald Trump a “golden pager” during their meeting in Washington DC this week, in an apparent reference to Israel’s deadly attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon last year.

In photos circulating online, the golden pager can be seen mounted on a piece of wood, accompanied by a golden plaque that reads in black lettering: “To President Donald J. Trump, Our greatest friend and greatest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

Continue reading...

‘Worst nightmare’: Egypt and Jordan put in impossible bind by Trump Gaza plan

Posted on by

Though heavily dependent on US aid, Amman and Cairo face political calamity at home should they comply

International outrage in recent days has focused on Donald Trump’s proposal that the US take “ownership” of Gaza, and that more than two million Palestinians be displaced to allow the territory to be transformed from “a demolition site” into a “riviera” in the Middle East.

In Jordan and Egypt, the demand that both countries accept huge numbers of Palestinians from Gaza – potentially on a permanent basis – has prompted equal concern. Leaders of both countries immediately rejected the proposal, and the Jordanian king, Abdullah II, and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, are heading to Washington in an attempt to convince Trump to change course.

Continue reading...

Trump doubles down on Gaza takeover proposal despite bipartisan opposition

Posted on by

President says territory would be ‘turned over’ to US by Israel as it emerges idea was not discussed with aides

Donald Trump has restated his proposal to take over Gaza amid widespread opposition – even from his own supporters – saying the territory would be “turned over” to the US by Israel after it concludes its military offensive against Hamas.

Trump reinforced his commitment to the idea in a rambling post on his Truth Social network on Thursday, even as it emerged that the proposal – announced without warning during a White House visit by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister – was purely his own and had not been subject to detailed discussion with aides.

Continue reading...

Several nationalities among Sweden school shooting victims, police say

Posted on by

Syrian embassy says its citizens were among 11 killed in attack by lone gunman in Örebro

• Europe live – latest updates

People of several nationalities were among the 11 killed at a school in Sweden’s worst mass shooting, police have said.

Anna Bergkvist, who is leading the police investigation, told Agence France-Presse that people of “multiple nationalities, different genders and different ages” were among those killed by a lone gunman at Campus Risbergska, an adult education centre, in the city of Örebro on Tuesday.

Continue reading...

Israel tells army to prepare plans for Palestinians ‘who wish to leave’ Gaza

Posted on by

Order comes after Donald Trump suggested US take over territory and resettle its residents elsewhere

Israel’s defence minister has ordered the military to prepare plans to allow Palestinians “who wish to leave” Gaza to exit, after Donald Trump suggested the US take over the territory and resettle its residents in other countries.

A Hamas official attacked the proposal as a “declaration of intent to occupy” Gaza, as Egypt, which Trump named as a possible destination for Palestinians, launched an intense behind-the-scenes diplomatic campaign to block it going further.

Continue reading...

Trump might want to revive America’s imperial heyday – but does his base?

Posted on by

The president’s Gaza proposal is a signal that old-school, blunt-force US expansionism seems to be back in fashion

Donald Trump’s proposal that the US take ownership of the Gaza Strip, expel and resettle the people there, and turn Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” has outraged Palestinians, shocked the international community and even confused many of his own conservative voters.

Yet the announcement seems like yet another sign that the president, while sometimes distancing himself from the neoconservative foreign policies that entangled the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, is willing to pursue – or at least entertain pursuing – an undisguised US imperialism that has more in common with the expansionism of Teddy Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson, the 19th- and early 20th-century presidents associated with some of American’s most brazen and violent conquests.

Continue reading...